This Classic Ford Mustang Has Been Reimagined For Dune-Bashing

Well, file this one under ‘things we didn’t expect to see this week’. BorromeodeSilva is an Italian design and engineering consultancy which, over the last few years, has made a bit of a name for itself working on restomods for other brands. It’s had a hand in Automobili Amos’s Lancia Delta Integrale, Nardone’s Porsche 928 and Eccentrica’s Lamborghini Diablo.

Now, though, it’s come out with something of its own, and it’s… different. Named the STL-1, it’s a love letter to the classic Ford Mustang, but one that’s been reimagined for a new purpose.

The project can trace its roots back to 2008, when BorromeodeSilva’s creative director, Carlo Borromeo (not to be confused with the 16th-century Archbishop of Milan, obviously) drove his own 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback coast-to-coast across the USA, then down the Panamerican Highway to Buenos Aires. On the trip, he began to envisage how he could transform the car into a proper adventure machine. 16 years later, this is the result.

The body, while resembling that of a 1968 Mustang Fastback, is in fact all-new, reproduced with Ford’s permission and made from thicker, stronger steel. You also can’t miss the lack of a roof, although the silhouette is maintained by the external roll cage structure. A Porsche Boxster Spyder-style fabric roof can be fitted to provide some weatherproofing.

To get it off-road ready, it’s been kitted out with billet off-road coilover shocks, heavy-duty suspension arms and half-shafts plus a limited-slip diff. It’s also wearing some beefy Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tyres.

The powertrain is a much more modern affair, too: it features the 5.0-litre Road Runner V8, a development of the modern Mustang’s regular Coyote engine found in the 2012-2013 Boss 302 version. Compared to the standard engine, it has a forged crankshaft and pistons, ported cylinder heads and a high-flow intake manifold.

Those changes, together with a revised cam profile and compression ratio, mean a peak of 444bhp delivered at a distinctly un-muscle-car-like 7400rpm. A high-performance exhaust system serves to make the best of that snorting soundtrack.

According to BorromeodeSilva, this wild creation has been developed as an internal passion project for several years, so it’ll likely remain a one-off – a shame when it’s such a distinctly different take on the muscle car formula.